Regional Report: Permian Basin ///

How many times has the Permian basin gone bust? In June 1985, we were pretty sure it was finished, when the rig count for Railroad Districts 7C, 8, and 8A bounced off a very hard bottom of 226 rotaries. There were 1,821 active U.S. rigs; the basin accounted for about 12.5% of them. Down from $39/bbl in 1981, we were starving on $11 in 1986. The bumper sticker, “Stay alive ‘til ’85,” had let us down.